I played POTC online. The sailing was pretty fun but you can't get very far in the game without paying. It lets you play forever but you can't go any further in the quests or buy better ships without getting a premium account.

The thing with buccaneer is if seems to force you to be a baddie. I like more freedom, if a crew decides mutany is in order because you arnt causing trouble that puts me off.

haha ya the game is as simple as it could be i had some epic battles online with other players some lasting as long as 15mins

If you want to bore yourself with extremely long and drawn out sailing simulation I'd suggest the original Sea Dogs.

I personally, have been heavily engaged in East India Company - the battles are stupid and take too long to load but the overhead merchanting aspect of the game is a fun, even if a difficult, challenge.

If you want the best battles, the original rocks! - stick with Sid Meier's Pirates!
But Age of Pirates: Carribean Tales on up are decent but they really have no end or story similar to Pirates!
Haven't tried this but if ship battles are as amusing as Pirates! but a bit more involved, it could be good.

try out the demo from steam im sure you will like the game if you like ship battles and pirate stuff its a simple indie game not much expectation
http://www.stickmanstudios.co.uk/buccaneer.html

damn tried out the demo, the game is still fun but mutliplayer is dead :( curse you gamespy

Unless it's WoW or TF2 multi-player will ALWAYS be dead and if it isn't at first, just give it two months. That's why I'm very happy with games like this that focus more on single player campaign and single player longevity.

This has always been a favourite genre of mine and for the last 5 years or so i've been really enjoying(and helping Mod) the Build Mod for the original Pirates of the Caribbean game(Bethesda/Akella).

info here:

http://www.moddb.com/mods/new-horizons

http://forum.piratesahoy.net/index.php/forum/37-potc-build-mod/

Currently the latest version of the Build mod is in Beta stage, but nearly close to a 'Beta 2'(hopefuly sometime after xmas this year). There is also a 'Build Mod 13 Full' you can download, but there are so many improvements in the 'Build Mod 14 Beta' that i wouldn't want to play without them.

As a longtime fan of 'age of sail' games(from the 'Uncharted' rpg's to Sid's original Pirates!) i've been really impressed with the full age of sail/Pirate simulation that the Build Mod has manged to coax out of the half-broken Pirates of the Caribbean game. Check it out and hopefully one day GOG will get the original game.